


Darling If You Love Me (Let Me Go)

by sinister_bisexual



Series: Soulmate AU [2]
Category: The Get Down (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Femslash February, One Shot, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-21 11:20:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9546839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinister_bisexual/pseuds/sinister_bisexual
Summary: On August 12, 1964, Mylene Cruz met Yolanda Kipling, and the world changed without a single person noticing. On May 30, 1977, Mylene's world changed again.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So I had originally planned to just have the Zeke and Shao one shot, but I got a few comments asking about Mylene, and I really wanted to explore her own soulmate/how she would deal with it. I made up a lot of the dates, but I tried to get them to fit the timeline as well as possible.

On August 12, 1964, Mylene Cruz met Yolanda Kipling, and the world changed without a single person noticing. Mylene wore the dress that her mother had carefully ironed the night before, her hair in a long braid down her back and tied with the ribbon her father gave her for her first day of school. She couldn’t remember what Yolanda was wearing, only that her hair was in two buns on the top of her head and when she smiled at her it felt like the sun was shining.

They barely noticed each other in class, but then recess came and Zeke had abandoned her to talk to some of his other friends, and Mylene refused to look anything other than busy when he inevitably looked back at her, so she marched over to where Yolanda was standing and stuck out her hand the way Papi did when he was meeting new parishioners. 

“My name is Mylene Cruz. Do you want to be my friend?”

Yolanda stared back at her, tilting her head quizzically. “Are you any fun to be friends with?”

“I’m lots of fun. I can sing and I can write my name and I can jump rope.”

Yolanda smiled, and the flip of Mylene’s stomach must have been what making a new friend felt like. “I’m Yolanda Kipling. We can be best friends.”

And Mylene suddenly had a whole new world.

\---

Someone was knocking on the bathroom door, what had started as a gentle tapping progressing into a full blown pounding the longer Mylene refused to answer.

“Mylene!” Papi shouted, something that might have been concern but was probably just anger clouding his voice. “Open the door! You can’t just ignore this; there are consequences for your actions!”

“Ramon, por favor, ella está alterada-” And there was Mami, always coming to her defense just one minute too late.

“She should be! She should be upset; God’s upset! I didn’t raise my daughter to be a whore, a sinning little-“

“Ramon!”

Mylene closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall, letting the coolness of the tile bring a hint of relief to her flushed skin. Her parents’ shouts faded into the background; if she tried she could almost pretend she was back at the club, her father’s disappointment just the pounding of the speakers, her mother’s pleading just a singer’s solo. She could pretend everything was alright, like it had been before the gunshots and the screaming and Zeke-

And now she was thinking about it again, when she had promised herself only half an hour before that it didn’t matter. That she didn’t care. She had started to fidget with the scarf around her wrist without noticing, and Mylene forced her fingers to still with far too much effort. 

A part of her wondered if it even mattered anymore, hiding her words. She knew her soulmate wasn’t Zeke now, even if she had suspected it for years. Surely Zeke would have told her if he was, used it as just another justification in his long list of reasons why they should be together. Only maybe a part of her had wished that they really were soulmates, that Zeke was too noble to use the universe to get his way, that one day she would realize he really was the one. Sometimes she imagined it would be like Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, like one day he would kiss her and she would wake up and think, oh, it is you. Like everything would fall into place, and she would love him exactly the way she knew she was supposed to. Only that would never happen now. Mylene glared down at the colorful band of cloth and contemplated ripping it off.

\---

On May 18, 1972, Mylene’s world almost changed again, but she put a stop to that nonsense as soon as she could.

“I don’t see why you can’t at least look,” Yolanda sighed, swinging her legs back and forth from where she sat on Mylene’s bed. “What’s the harm in knowing your words? It doesn’t mean you’ll have to follow them.”

“I don’t want the temptation,” Mylene snapped, keeping her eyes trained on the ceiling so she wouldn’t accidentally catch a glimpse of the words tattooed on her wrist. “If I know someone’s supposed to be my soulmate, I might let them get away with things they shouldn’t.”

“If they’re your soulmate, why would they be doing things they shouldn’t?”

Mylene rolled her eyes, risking a glance towards Yolanda. “Every man does things he shouldn’t.”

Yolanda giggled, sliding off the bed and walking forward. “Okay, I think I’ve got the knot figured out. Give me your wrist and I’ll tie it for you.”

“Don’t tell me what it says,” Mylene warned, holding out her wrist obediently.

Yolanda laughed again, taking her hand with gentle fingers and turning it as Mylene squeezed her eyes shut. Abruptly, the laughter stopped.

“What?” Mylene asked, fighting the urge to open her eyes. “What is it?”

“It’s nothing,” Yolanda said quickly, but her voice shook.

“Is it something bad? Are my words horrible?”

“No- no, nothing’s wrong,” Yolanda stammered. “It’s just weird, that’s all. I knew you would have a soulmate, it’s just…seeing it is weird.”

“You promise there’s nothing wrong?”

Yolanda finished tying the knot, giving Mylene’s hand a squeeze. “Of course I promise. Everything’s fine.”

Mylene finally opened her eyes, and when Yolanda smiled at her, they both pretended they didn’t notice the way the corners of her mouth shook.

\---

“Please, Mr. and Mrs. Cruz, I just want to see her.”

Mylene whipped her head up, paying attention to the voices outside the door for the first time since Papi called her a whore.

“This is unacceptable! I don’t care what your father allows, taking my daughter into that den of sin, helping her associate with such garbage-” 

“Please, Mr. Cruz,” Yolanda interrupted. “I just wanted to look out for her; I just wanted her to be safe!”

“Look out for her? You encourage her; you sing that blasphemous music right along with her! How can you claim to care about my daughter when you lead her right into the Devil’s hands?”

“I’m sorry, just, please let me see her,” Yolanda pleaded. “There was a shootout at the club, and-”

Mylene winced as her father interrupted Yolanda with another bout of yelling. Telling Papi about the guns wasn’t going to make him anymore merciful, and besides, they both knew that wasn’t what Mylene was really upset about. Then again, Papi would probably respond better to hearing she had almost been shot than hearing Zeke’s soulmate was a boy.

Mami’s voice joined the mix once again, rising above Papi’s in a rare show of courage. “Ramon, she’s hurting; she needs someone to-”

“She needs God! She needs God to-”

“God’s not going to unlock the door!” And even if she couldn’t recognize her voice, there was no way Mylene could mistake that for anyone but Yolanda. Only Yolanda would stand up to her father like that. “Mylene’s the one who has to do that! And she won’t do it for you, but maybe she’ll do it for me, so please, just let me talk to her.”

There was even more arguing, but Mylene couldn’t bring herself to listen to any more of it. Eventually, the sound of her parents faded, and then it was just Yolanda, knocking on the bathroom door like this was nothing out of the ordinary.

“Mylene? Will you let me in?”

Mylene didn’t want to face anyone, didn’t want to have to put on a mask and smile and say that of course everything was fine, of course she didn’t mind that the boy who claimed he loved her had replaced her within a single night. But hiding from Yolanda was always impossible, anyway, and Mylene felt too tired to refuse her. She didn’t bother standing, just reached out blindly until her hands wrapped around the doorknob and the lock clicked open. A second later the door swung open, revealing Yolanda, still in her clothes from the club. She must have come as soon as she could, not even stopping at home first. 

“Mylene?” Yolanda asked, stepping forward hesitantly. “Are- are you okay?” She winced as soon as the words left her mouth, as if realizing how silly they sounded out loud. 

She continued walking forward until she was directly in front of Mylene, sinking to her knees so that they were face to face. “I know- I know what happened at Les Inferno, with the guns, and, and Zeke-”

Mylene was crying again, or maybe she had never stopped, but the tears were beginning to drip down into the crevices of her neck and catch on the fabric of her dress.

“I know he said he loved you. And I know how hard- I mean, I don’t know, but please, Mylene, I’m trying to understand.”

Mylene felt the insane urge to laugh, and forced it down with what must have looked like an expression of pain.

“Talk to me,” Yolanda begged, reaching out and gripping Mylene’s hands desperately “Please, Mylene, just talk to me.”

“I didn’t love him,” she sobbed, the words finally breaking free after what felt like years of swallowing them down. “Not like I was supposed to. Not like he-” The words caught on another sob, and Yolanda squeezed her hands in quiet reassurance.

“I didn’t love him like he loved me,” Mylene whispered. “But I thought maybe I could, eventually, if he just-” Mylene cut herself off with a laugh. “I was so stupid. Of course he was going to find someone else.”

“Mylene, girl, you’re gonna find someone so much better. Someone you can love for real.”

“Am I, though? Maybe I’m just not meant to find my soulmate. Maybe I don’t even have one.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Yolanda scolded. “I’ve seen your words; I know your soulmate’s out there. And even if you-” she stopped for a moment, her face twitching in what might have been pain, but she continued quickly. “Even if you don’t love them, there are a million guys out there who would kill to be your man. At least one of them will be good enough.”

“Yeah, until they find their own soulmates. And what if I’ve already met my soulmate? What if it’s someone horrible, what if it’s Cadilac, or one of the boys at school, or-” 

“You know it’s not one of them,” Yolanda interrupted gently. “Your soulmate is supposed to be someone you can love for real.”

“Is it? Because I don’t know how Zeke could ever love some,” Mylene gestured wildly, trying to find a word that could possibly describe the boy that Zeke had dragged into the club, “some thug like that. What if that’s how it is for me?”

“It won’t be,” Yolanda insisted.

“Prove it, then. Tell me my words, Yolanda; it doesn’t matter now anyway. There’s no point in hiding from them.”

“This is the shock talking, girl. I’m not gonna ruin five years of secrecy just because of Zeke.”

“Please, Yolanda,” Mylene sobbed. 

She knew, in the back of her mind, that she didn’t need Yolanda to tell her. She could just rip the scarf off, read the words for herself. But Yolanda had been the sole keeper of her words for so long, they wouldn’t feel real without her. Mylene wanted to hear her words from Yolanda or no one at all.

“You don’t really want me to do this,” Yolanda said gently.

“But what if nobody ever loves me again? What if Zeke was my one shot and I fucked it up?”

Yolanda sighed, shifting until she and Regina were side by side with their backs against the wall. “Mylene, how could anybody not love you? You’re smart, you’re talented, you’re beautiful- it’s like the universe was holding its breath until you arrived, and now everyone’s just waiting to see how you decide to shape the world. Zeke saw it, even if he isn’t your soulmate. Regina sees it. I see it.”

“You have to say that,” Mylene sniffed. “You’re my friend.”

“I don’t have to say shit,” Yolanda snapped, startling a laugh out of Mylene. “I’m saying this because it’s true.”

Mylene shifted until she was staring up at Yolanda, her head leaning against her shoulder and her lips nearly brushing her chin. “You’re my best friend, you know that?”

“Of course I know that,” Yolanda laughed. 

Yolanda’s laugh was probably the prettiest thing in the world. Forget the record; Mylene would pay millions just to hear that laugh for the rest of her life. She would pay millions just to stay here forever, listening to Yolanda talk and watching the way her eyes lit up, feeling her chest rise and fall with every breath. How could she ever love a soul mate as much as she loved this?

Mylene was moving before she realized what she was doing, shifting up even further and tilting Yolanda’s head with her hand and pressing their lips together, and for one glorious moment they were kissing, and then the world came crashing back down.

Mylene pulled back abruptly, the realization of what she’d just done suddenly settling in. “Oh shit,” she breathed out, scrambling away. “Oh shit, shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

Yolanda stared back at her, her lips still parted in a little “oh” of surprise.

“I didn’t mean to, Yolanda, I swear, it’s just- you were being so nice, and with everything that happened with Zeke, and- and- and I’m probably still a little drunk; I didn’t mean to be this selfish.”

Yolanda’s eyebrows drew together. “Selfish?”

“You have your own soulmate, even if you haven’t met them yet. And here I am just- just ruining that because I’m upset-”

“Did you kiss me because you were upset?”

“No. Yes. I don’t know. I’m upset and I kissed you.”

“Would you kiss me if you weren’t upset?”

“It doesn’t matter!” Mylene said, another hysterical laugh bubbling up in her throat. “It doesn’t matter what I want; I can’t just ruin our friendship over some, some-”

Yolanda’s face was still dizzyingly blank, like all emotion had been wiped away the moment their lips touched. “This is ruining our friendship?”

“You have a soulmate, Yolanda. It shouldn’t matter how I feel right now; I don’t have the right to interfere with that.”

“What about your soulmate? You weren’t interfering with that when you kissed me?”

“It’s not the same, Yolanda, you know I don’t care about that, not really.”

“But you think I do.”

“I don’t know if you do! I don’t even know what your words are, but that doesn’t mean I can just-”

“You’re right,” Yolanda whispered, and Mylene froze.

“What?”

“You don’t know what my words are. See for yourself.”

Yolanda held out her right wrist, and it was only now that Mylene could see that Yolanda was trembling.

“You don’t have to do this, not if you don’t want me to see.”

“I do want you to see. I just asked you to.” Yolanda leaned forward until she was on her knees, the back of her hand barely brushing against Mylene’s legs, her palm open in an offering.

Mylene stared down at the small band around Yolanda’s wrist, lifting up shaking fingers to brush against the fabric. 

“Are you sure?” It came out as barely a whisper.

Yolanda stared back at her steadily. “I’m always sure with you.”

The band wasn’t hard to pull off, but Mylene took her time with it anyway, careful not to let it catch on Yolanda’s skin. And then she was staring down at little black words that didn’t make any sense, or maybe her tears were blurring her vision again, but they couldn’t possibly be-

“My name is Mylene Cruz. Do you want to be my friend?” Yolanda whispered, tracing along the letters on her own skin. 

“I don’t-”

“It’s you, Mylene. It’s always been you.”

The world was spinning around her, the words on Yolanda’s wrist the only clear point in the chaos. “Am I- are mine-”

“Are you any fun to be friends with?” Yolanda echoed, and somehow Mylene didn’t have to check her wrist to know that it was true, that those were the only words that could have been there, anyway. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You didn’t want to know. You said you didn’t believe in soulmates.”

“I believe in you.”

Yolanda smiled, and it was like sunlight, like Mylene’s chest was so full that she could float away or maybe just explode, and Yolanda might have been saying something but suddenly Mylene couldn’t stand the distance in between them any longer. She pulled her in for another kiss, awkward and messy and absolutely perfect, and this time Yolanda kissed back. 

It didn’t matter that she hadn’t met DJ Malibu. It didn’t matter that Zeke was supposed to be in love with some boy Mylene hated on sight. It didn’t even matter that her parents were probably still nearby, praying to God to save her from disco while she kissed a girl on their bathroom floor. All that mattered was holding Yolanda, pulling her closer, wrapping their hands together and opening her mouth to her and tangling their legs until all she felt was skin. All that mattered was her best friend, her soul mate, the girl she had somehow managed to fall in love with without even realizing it. 

On May 30, 1977, Mylene Cruz kissed Yolanda Kipling, and the world snapped back into place.

**Author's Note:**

> Mr. Cruz: How will we ever get through this door?  
> Yolanda: Move I'm gay!
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed, feel free to come say hi at http://fantasticfiguero.tumblr.com/


End file.
